Tear straps may be added to aircraft skin to provide damage tolerance. For instance, tear straps may be added to arrest the propagation of cracks in aircraft skin.
In the absence of tear straps, stiffening structures such as frames and stringers may be configured to arrest the propagation of cracks in the aircraft skin. These stiffening structures are increased in size to carry both regular loads and damage arrest loads.
Typically, the tear strips are individually fastened and/or bonded to discrete portions of an inner surface of the aircraft skin.